Why it works: Veal and mutton are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,394 recipes. Both carry 1-nonanal, which smells fatty, waxy. The science ↓
White Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the veal and mutton into small pieces.
Make the soup
In a saucepan, add the meat and water, then bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, skimming off any froth that rises.
Mix the potato starch with a little cold water until smooth.
Stir the starch mixture into the soup and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Add salt to taste and serve hot.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Veal + muttontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,394 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
-
Mutton + potatotop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together293 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Veal + potatotop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together343 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the main meat flavor and gelatin that gives the broth body as it simmers.
- Mutton
- Adds deeper, richer meat flavor to the broth during the long simmer.
- Potato starch
- Thickens the broth into a silky body when it is stirred in and heated.
The step that matters
Stirring the starch mixture into the soup. Potato starch must be mixed smooth in cold water first; added dry or lumpy it clumps. Once it reaches a simmer it thickens, so it needs stirring while it cooks.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, mutton):
- Carrotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, mutton. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.